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Google's Chrome and Mozilla's Firefox are some
of the world's most widely used browsers, and the moves could
disrupt users accessing a broad range of Chinese web sites.
As a result of Mozilla's step, users of Firefox may get a
warning when attempting to visit sites certified after April 1
by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), the
body that administers China's Internet by allocating and
certifying IP addresses and web domain names.
CNNIC issued a statement on Thursday calling Google's move
"unacceptable and unintelligible" and asked the web giant to
consider its users' interests.
Zhang Jing, a representative of CNNIC's media relations
department, could not immediately provide comment about
Mozilla's move when reached late Friday.
Mozilla and Google have both objected to CNNIC delegating its
authority to issue certificates to an Egyptian company called
MCS Holdings, which mishandled the matter last week.
MCS Holdings attributed a security lapse that took place on a
test network to human error.
Internet authorities around the world issue certificates of
trust to websites to verify their authenticity when visited by a
web browser. Hackers could in theory impersonate unverified
websites and intercept data using a "man-in-the-middle" attack.
Google and Mozilla have said they would allow CNNIC to reapply
so its certificates could be recognized again.
Chrome is the world's most popular desktop and tablet browser,
with nearly 50 percent share, while Microsoft Corp's Internet
Explorer has nearly 18 percent compared to Firefox at 16.9
percent, according Statcounter.
(Reporting by Gerry Shih)
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